December 2013 Briefs

ORGANIZATIONSCTLGroup Senior Petrographer Jean Randolph has been promoted to the Petrography Laboratory manager. An expert concrete petrographer with an accomplished consulting background in field and laboratory testing interpretation, she will oversee day-to-day operations and marketing of the lab as well as work in close collaboration with the firm’s Materials Consulting Practice and Laboratory.

With 30 years of experience as a concrete petrographer, Randolph has performed thousands of petrographic and microscopical analyses of concrete and concrete materials. She has performed examinations to assess the quality and condition of concrete, analyzed strength and setting issues, freeze-thaw and chemical-related deterioration, and debonding and delamination.

Prior to joining CTLGroup, Randolph was president of Construction Petrographics, Inc., a company she founded in 1989, providing petrographic laboratory testing and consulting services of concrete, aggregate and mix designs to engineers, contractors, ready mixed producers and admixture companies, attorneys, and government agencies.

PTI PLANT CERTIFICATION MILESTONEThe Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI), a nationally recognized standards development and credentialing organization, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited PTI Plant Certification program in the new year.

In 1988, Loris Gerber of Loris L. Gerber, Inc., conducted eight in-depth inspections of plants producing unbonded single strand tendons. The inspections covered eight basic categories: Prestressing Steel; Anchor Castings; Wedges and Couplings; Sheathing; Corrosion Preventive Coating; Fabricating Line; Storage and Shipping; Record Keeping; and Stressing Equipment. Each category was further divided into specific segments of activity, which were universally utilized in the conduct of each inspection. In October of that year, Gerber presented the PTI Board of Directors with the first PTI Plant Certification Summary and Annual Report.

From this report it was determined that the program offered considerable benefit to the industry. Not only did it recognize the certified plants for adherence to industry standards of quality, but it also identified areas of growth and improvement for the industry as a whole. The program officially launched in 1989 after receiving authorization from the PTI Board of Directors. Companies with plants that were among the first to participate in the program include: AMSYSCO, Inc.; Continental Concrete Structures, Inc.; DYWIDAG Systems International, Inc.; PTE Systems International, LLC; Suncoast Post-Tension; and, VSL.

In the 25 years since its origin, the program has grown considerably in size and credibility. Conducting as many as 140 inspections in a given year, Charles R. Adams & Associates has served as the program’s Independent Inspection Agency since 2005. With over 90 years of combined experience in the post-tensioning industry Charles Adams, Charles Skarbrevik, and Rick Cooler, conduct thorough and objective evaluations of plants applying for, or maintaining, PTI certification. The guidelines by which the plants are certified are continually evaluated by CRT-20: Unbonded Tendon Plant Certification Subcommittee to ensure that unbonded post-tensioning tendons are being produced to the highest industry standard.

In 2013, the PTI Plant Certification program received ANSI accreditation; providing architects, designers, specifiers, contractors, owners and manufacturers with an additional degree of confidence in the products produced by PTI Certified plants.

“The fact that the Plant Certification program is entering its 25th year says a great deal about the continuity of the program,” said Ted Neff, PTI executive director. “The 55 plants that are currently certified, the CRT-20: Unbonded Tendon Plant Certification Committee, and PTI staff played a pivotal role in reaching this milestone and ensuring the program’s growth throughout the next quarter century.”

Hansen joined NRMCA in August 2006, transitioning from director of marketing for the Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete/Iowa Concrete Paving Association partnership. His most current work at NRMCA includes concrete overlays of existing asphalt parking areas, conventional concrete parking lots, insulating concrete forms, and streets and local roads. He was the originator of the Guide to Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots, devoting over three years on the document from concept to printing. His client list at NRMCA includes the nation’s largest business owners, private corporations and public agencies. In addition, he represents NRMCA as a special board member with the American Society of Concrete Contractors. A native of northwest Iowa, now based in the Des Moines area, Hansen has spent his entire career in the construction industry as a company owner, business manager and market developer.

Miller has over 20 years experience in the construction industry since beginning her first job in high school at a commercial roofing company. Graduating from the University of Florida with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering and an MBA, she worked in the consulting industry prior to working as a sales engineer for a pipe company and a key accounts manager at Grace Construction Products. Miller joined NRMCA in 2008 as a member of the National Resource Directors team. She serves as a liaison of the concrete industry to key National Accounts and through efforts with state associations located in the Southeast. Miller is a registered professional engineer and general contractor in Florida, where she resides.

Killingsworth, who joined the association in 2011, has over 20 years experience in the engineering consulting business. At NRMCA, he provides technical expertise and education to the ready mixed concrete industry and its customers to advance the applications and use of ready mixed concrete for streets, local roads and parking areas, including conventional concrete, concrete overlays, roller-compacted concrete and pervious concrete. He represents NRMCA before organizations that develop codes and standards for pavements, including AASHTO, FHWA and ACI. Over the first 12 years of his career, Killingsworth was actively involved in several research projects with the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, FHWA and state Departments of Transportation. Killingsworth is a professional engineer and holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Texas A&M University.

Based in San Francisco, Peng is a long- time advocate of sustainability, green building and social responsibility in various industries from housing to microfinance to community planning. He represents the concrete industry in green building codes and standards, including the LEED green building rating system, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure Envision rating system and the International Green Construction Code. Prior to joining NRMCA in 2011, he worked in the building design and construction industry developing green homes, communities and commercial buildings. His credentials include LEED AP+, Certified Sustainable Building Advisor (CSBA), Certified Green Professional (CGP), Project Management Professional (PMP) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB).

In addition to the National Resources promotions, NRMCA has also restructured its Government Affairs and Operations, Environmental and Safety departments. Kevin Walgenbach has been named senior director of compliance and regulatory affairs. He will focus on advising the ready mixed concrete industry on compliance with operations, safety, labor and environmental regulations. Walgenbach previously was senior director of legislative and regulatory affairs.

Replacing Walgenbach as a senior director in Government Affairs is Elizabeth Fox, who joined NRMCA after nine years in the U.S. Senate, most recently as an Environment & Public Works Committee staff member with responsibilities including EPA regulation, water and infrastructure, mining, natural gas and alternative fuels. She was also the lead committee staffer for the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act issues and drafted several key components of the last stormwater bill and several infrastructure and environmental bills.

NRMCA COMMITTEES NAME CARPENTER, GAYNOR, ACTIVIST, TRAINING AWARD WINNERSThe National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s leading committees—Research, Engineering and Standards; Operations, Environmental and Safety; Government Affairs; and, Educational Activities—announced winners of annual awards during the group’s ConcreteWorks Conference and Expo. Recipients will be formally honored during the NRMCA annual convention, just ahead of the 2014 ConExpo-Con/Agg, March 4-8 in Las Vegas.

Terry Jones, director of Environmental, Safety and Health at Irving Materials, Inc., (imi) Indianapolis won the Joseph E. Carpenter Award for being a leader and frequent contributor to the development of the highly successful NRMCA Safety Series publications; one of the primary developers of the NRMCA Safety Course; and, a guest lecturer on numerous occasions, while hosting courses at IMI facilities. The award is named in honor of Joseph E. Carpenter of Rinker Materials, who was instrumental in the formation and development of the NRMCA Committee on Maintenance, which has evolved to Operations, Environmental and Safety (OES) Committee. It’s presented annually to those who have demonstrated outstanding lifetime contributions to the ready mixed concrete industry in the fields of maintenance, environmental and safety.

The Research Engineering & Standards Committee selected Gary M. Mullings, NRMCA senior vice president of Operations and Compliance, as the recipient of the Richard D. Gaynor Award—named for a longtime NRMCA and National Aggregates Association technical staff member, who retired in 1996 as executive vice president—to recognize individuals for advancing concrete technology and quality. Mullings is marking his 40th year at NRMCA, his early years centered at the group’s College Park, Md., research laboratory. About 15 years ago, he took on the leadership of the Operations and Compliance Department and has led the efforts on regulatory compliance assistance and support of the ready mixed concrete industry. Mullings is a primary instructor for the NRMCA Technical Short Course, plus Plant Manager and Environmental & Safety courses, and delivers a wide range of webinars on current issues impacting the industry.

Grassroots Activists of the Year Award went to Bill Childs, chief executive officer of Chaney Enterprises, Gambrills, Md., and John Carew, president of Carew Concrete, Appleton, Wis. The Government Affairs Committee presents this award to recognize outstanding participation in day-to-day activities surrounding federal legislation, regulations and industry advocacy and CONCRETEPAC.

Childs has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to the success of NRMCA’s advocacy initiatives by regularly attending and participating in meetings, conference calls and webinars. He frequently travels to Washington, D.C., to participate in Capitol Hill meetings as well as represent the ready mixed concrete industry during the Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In. Most notably, he and his team at Chaney Enterprises encouraged their employees, customers and vendors to attend the annual Rally for Roads, staged on the National Mall with NRMCA the lead organizer.

Carew has also repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to the success of NRMCA’s advocacy program by regularly attending and participating in meetings, conference calls and webinars. He has conducted countless plant tours with his members of Congress and regularly engages in grassroots alerts sent by NRMCA Government Affairs staff. Most notably, he provided a great service to the industry while testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding “Rushing Union Elections: Protecting the Interests of Big Labor at the Expense of Workers’ Free Choice.”

Cemex–Phoenix’s JOB SAFE program won the Educational Activities Committee’s Innovation in Training Award that recognizes excellence in training and efforts to take a creatively different approach to accomplish a task. JOB SAFE, created from a driver’s idea, includes a checklist brochure that is sent to a construction site prior to the mixer truck arriving. Because this inexpensive handout so succinctly captures the essence of what is needed to keep the job site safe, it can be replicated industry-wide, and therefore, is truly innovative. Committee members also conferred a special recognition award to MMC Materials, Madison, Miss., and sister company, Bayou Concrete, Gulfport, Miss., for their company-wide emphasis on the health and the well being.

Separately, NRMCA has announced a new State Affiliate Promoter of the Year Award to recognize outstanding concrete promotion contributions by an employee of one of association’s State Affiliate partner organizations. Nominees must be a current Affiliate employee and have worked in the industry for at least five years. The Affiliate honor joins Concrete Promotion Committee’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Promotion and the Concrete Producer Promoter of the Year Award.

MANUFACTURERSMeadow Burke has appointed Denise Senior as Marketing and New Products manager, responsible for building on the company’s success in engineered solutions for concrete construction. She joins Tampa-based Meadow Burke after eight years within a global contract services company, where she oversaw new business sales and marketing strategies as well as brand and product extension introductions and launches.

“Denise’s wealth of experience and knowledge will make her a key addition,” says Meadow Burke President Jan Olsen. “We view her appointment as a sign of our commitment to being the leading company in our industry. Our new innovations and the increase of new products to best meet our customers’ needs led us to look for an addition to our team who will fit in with our ethos of quality U.S.-manufactured product.”

Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment announced Scott Park as president and CEO, replacing Tony Helsham who retires in February. Park will be responsible for the Bobcat compact equipment brand in the North America, Oceania, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, and in Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States; the Doosan heavy equipment brand in the North America, Oceania and Europe regions; and, the global businesses related to Doosan Infracore Portable Power, and Montabert and Geith attachments.

Most recently, he was global vice president of Strategy, Manufacturing Strategy and Total Quality Management (TQM) for the company, a position he held since early last year. Previously, Park was with Volvo Construction Equipment. Doosan has been expanding its product portfolio and manufacturing footprint, and growing the dealer channels, across its heavy and compact equipment brands.

STUDENTS OBSERVE LAFARGE ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIPThe Lafarge North America Lordstown Construction Recovery (LCR) facility served as an outdoor classroom this fall for students from Youngstown State University and nearby Lordstown High School. The students worked on a plant and animal species identification project at the facility’s wildlife preserve as part of their respective schools’ biology curriculums, and provided input about future conservation programs at the site that qualify for the Wildlife Habitat Council’s (WHC) Corporate Lands for Learning certification.

Since 2008, WHC’s “Wildlife at Work” program has certified conservation projects at Lafarge’s Lordstown plant as voluntary efforts that go beyond regulatory requirements to restore and conserve the site’s 94-acre wildlife habitat area. The plant now seeks to take its partnerships with WHC and the local community a step further to become a center for outdoor education.

“What’s happening here is something we want to see happen on a regular basis,” said Plant Supervisor Tim Wirtz, who heads up the plant’s partnership with WHC. “That’s why we’re working with WHC to develop programs that qualify for the Corporate Lands for Learning certification. We’re proud of the conservation work we’ve done here and we want to see the land used in ways that benefit everyone.”

WHC programs are designed to provide structure for corporate efforts to restore and preserve the environments in which they operate. Community involvement is a key component of these programs, which highlight the interdependence of ecology, industry, economics and communities.

The Lafarge site in Lordstown has already hosted students and community organizations interested in outdoor education. “We’ve had kids from the local 4H come out to help us build and mount birdhouses throughout the wildlife area,” said Wirtz. “The land has also been used by kids involved in the Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District’s Watershed Field School summer program, as well as the Ohio Ornithological Society, a group that works with Ohio State University. In fact, this group identified 26 different species of birds living on site.”

“Many large corporations own vast tracts of land that are typically closed off to the public,” WHC Education Specialist Rob Campbell added. “Lafarge is one corporation that has really opened up their lands to benefit the local communities where they operate—not just here in Lordstown, but at several of their North American locations. It’s really commendable.”

“[This] event reflects our commitment to biodiversity and gives us a great chance to work with the community,” says Lafarge Lordstown Plant Manager Michael Nelson. “Building better cities and communities is not just about houses, bridges and highways but also green space and balance with the environment. A Corporate Lands for Learning initiative brings this together in one place for our schools and allows us to give back to the community, which is an important element for Lafarge.”

“Mack is known for superior fuel economy and alternative fuel technology leadership, and we feel it’s just as important that the facility where our trucks are assembled is leading manufacturing facilities across the U.S. in energy performance,” says Vice President of Marketing John Walsh.

“The [ANSI/MSE] achievement clearly demonstrates our commitment to environmental stewardship and is the result of our employees actively working to reduce energy consumption for more than a decade,” adds Macungie Cab & Vehicle Assembly General Manager Roger Johnston. The highest available in the country, he notes, the certification reflects a 41.94 percent energy performance improvement—nearly three times the baseline target for ANSI/MSE 5021 platinum-level candidates—Mack attained from 2002 to 2012 through such plant investments as lighting upgrades and controls; building automation system; air compressor management; heat recovery during the manufacturing process; and, HVAC system upgrades.

Located near the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania, the Mack Macungie operation carries certification for ISO 14001, the environmental management systems standard, and ISO 50001, the only globally recognized verification process for energy efficiency standards in industrial facilities. As part of the latter certification, employees are trained in energy management standards to better understand how to improve plant performance. In parallel with ongoing energy improvement initiatives, Macungie employees were encouraged to form teams and submit energy savings ideas; best and most achievable ideas were recognized.

Contact Details

About Us

Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete. With an editorial focus on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics, Concrete Products provides practical information for management professionals on how to run their day to day business.